Castle Hill ~ Hard Walk

Distance Covered: 4 miles Time to Complete Walk 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes 

West Yorkshire is notorious for its steep roads and on this classic walk you make your way up to Castle Hill with its Victoria Tower built as a tribute for Queen Victoria. The 360 degree views at the top are amazing. This walk starts at the top and makes its way to the little village of Farnley Tyas. Then climb back up to Castle Hill. A great walk with epic views.

General Safety Tips: 

There is a lot of road walking as you make your way to Farnley Tyas. Keep to the pavements and cross the road carefully. The walk is best done after a dry spell. Otherwise wear boots or wellies as it can get muddy. Take care when crossing Lumb Dike - look out for a bridge to cross over to the other side.

The Castle Hill Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough, follow the A19 to the A1 southbound. Follow the M1 towards Leeds. At Durkar take the A636 exit. Follow the A636 to a right turn to the A637. Follow this road through Flockton and afterwards take a left turn onto the A642 to Fenay Bridge. Turn left then right onto Station Road. Turn right onto the A629 and the left onto Fenay Lane which then becomes Kaye Lane and then turn left onto Ashes Lane. Look out for the left turn up to Castle Hill which is a steep winding road. Parking is free of charge at Castle Hill.

Maps of the Castle Hill Walk

The Walk

From the car park head towards the Victoria Tower and climb down the steps behind it down to the road.

Turn left and at a fork keep left climbing the road - when you come to some houses turn right onto a path beside them.

Follow the grass track over three stiles towards a farm ahead.

Turn left through a gate and then enter the farmyard and exit it to the right onto a road. 

Turn left and follow the road to Farnley Tyas which winds and climbs to the village. Use both sides of the pavements.

When you enter the village of Farnley Tyas, turn left into the road between the church and the school.

Look for a right turn through a gate into School Wood.

Follow the woodland path as it winds over a small stream until you come to a gap in the hedge onto a road.

Turn left and follow the road to a crossroads.

Cross over the road onto the road ahead and look for a narrow path to your left.

Follow this narrow path until you emerge back into Farnley Tyas.

Turn right and make your way to the village pub- The Golden Cock- walk past it and then turn left into the path beside it.

Look for a path to your left which heads down and then swing to the left. 

Follow the field down to the right to a gate into woods.

Follow the path into the woods until you emerge into a clearing.

Follow the path to the side of a field and then follow the side of the field to a stile into the woods again.

To find your way to the other side of the woods, follow a path to the left and then when you see a path down to the stream, follow this and then to the right until you come to a wooden bridge.

Cross over to the other side and climb up to the top and over a stile into a field.

Climb up the field keeping to the left and emerging onto a road.

Turn left and follow the road back to the steps up to Castle Hill again.

Castle Hill

Castle Hill is a scheduled ancient monument in Almondbury overlooking Huddersfield in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. The hilltop has been settled for at least 4,000 years. The scheduled monument comprises the remains of a late-Bronze Age or early Iron Age univallate hillfort with a single raised bank, a later Iron Age multivallate hillfort, a 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle, and the site of a deserted medieval village. The grade II listed Victoria Tower on the summit of Castle Hill is by far the most conspicuous landmark in Huddersfield. The hill has been a place of recreation for hundreds of years and the easily discernible remains of past occupation have made it a subject for legend, speculation and scientific study. It is located on UK Maps at grid reference SE152140.

The first people to visit Castle Hill were probably hunters and gatherers of the Mesolithic age, camping amongst the forests which at that time covered the land. In the Neolithic and Bronze Age, there appears to have been widespread travel or trade along the river valleys connecting the Yorkshire Wolds, the Peak District and the Mersey and Ribble estuaries. This is shown by various characteristic types of stone and bronze tools in a place far from their points of origin. The hillfort was constructed in the early Iron Age, around 555 BC taking up the whole hilltop. Modifications were made around 43 AD to improve the defences, probably in response to the threat from the Roman invaders.

Excavations on part of the hillfort in 1970 demonstrated that Castle Hill had at some stage suffered from a severe episode of burning. Vitrified forts such as Castle Hill are rarely found in England, and are more usual in Scotland.

The banks and ditches that remain are more likely to be the result of recutting and other alterations carried out during the Middle Ages, and modified by centuries of erosion. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, Almondbury became part of the Honour of Pontefract, which was held by the de Laci family. They established a small castle on the hill. It is mentioned in a charter of King Stephen to Henry de Laci of about 1142 to 1154. Archaeological excavation has provided a wooden stake, radiocarbon-dated to the late 1140s, and a coin of about 1160. It can be assumed that the castle was complete and occupied by the 1140s.

In the early 14th century there was an attempt to found a settlement in the lower bailey, and possibly elsewhere on the hill. Aerial photography revealed a central roadway flanked by regularly laid-out plots. It was probably abandoned by the 1340s, although memory of it may have lingered, since the map of Almondbury drawn up in 1634 marks the hill as the site of a town. After the end of the Middle Ages, Castle Hill remained uninhabited until the early 19th century. Its prominent position made it an ideal site for a warning beacon, as part of a network of such beacons on other prominent hills all over the country, spreading out in lines from the coast.

Kirkleatham & Wilton ~ Easy Walk

Distance Covered: 4 miles Time to Complete Walk 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes 

Starting from the Kirkleatham Walled Garden, this sleepy village outside Redcar has so much to offer. As well as the gardens there is a museum and dont miss the Owl Centre - a must visit for ornithologists or for a family day out. The Walled garden is best to be visited spring/summer. The walk makes it way through the village of Yearby and then through woods to Wilton and back to Kirkleatham. 

General Safety Tips: Be careful approaching the woods after Yearby as you need to stay on the verge facing the oncoming traffic. The woods can get muddy- wear boots and take a walking stick. Coming out of Wilton be careful crossing the road near the underpass and stay vigiliant for traffic.

                                   The Kirkleatham and Wilton walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough, follow the A174 through Eston. Go over the first roundabout and the second roundabout. Just after the second roundabout turn left into the Kirkleatham Walled Garden car park which is free and closes at 4pm.

Maps of the Kirkleatham & Wilton Walk 

The Walk

From the car park, head back to the entrance you drove into and cross over the road carefully. Turn left into the road heading to Yearby keeping to the pavement.

Keeping to the pavement walk through Yearby and when the pavement ends cross over the road and head onto the grass verge.

Shortly you will come to a turning into the woods through a gate on your right. Go through the gate into the woods. 

Follow the track through the woods keeping as close as possible to the the field fence as much as possible.

At a fork in the track turn right 

Head past a pond on your left. 

At another fork keep ahead slightly to the right

To your right you will see the old ICI Wilton works come into view. Keep ahead on the track with the fence on your right. 

Keep walking through the woods over a fallen tree next to a gate.

Shortly,  keep you eyes open for a path descending to your right. Follow this down between two wire fences.

Follow the path as it winds to the left and over a stile into the village of Wilton.

 Turn right and follow the pavement through Wilton and down to the A174 

 Cross the road turning left onto the pavement.

Keep ahead and then cross over the road and walk under the underpass.

Turn right and head over the road and onto a cycle track beside the A174

Keep to the pavement and head back to the roundabout.

At the roundabout turn left and cross over the road and onto the pavement on your left.

Turn right into Kirkleatham by crossing over the road and onto the pavement into Kirkleatham village.

Follow the pavement passing the Kirkleatham Museum on your left and then head past the walled garden and back to the car park. Pop into the Walled Garden cafe for a bit to eat!

Kirkleatham

Kirkleatham is an area of Redcar in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire, England. It is approximately 4

+1⁄2 miles (7 kilometres) north-northwest of Guisborough, and three miles (five kilometres) south of Redcar centre. It was listed in the Domesday Book.

The area has a collection of buildings that formed the Turner Estate, named after the Turner family who lived in the area from 1661. It has one of the best collections of Georgian-style buildings in England.

The name of the village comes from the old Norse kirk (church) and hlíð (slopes). Literally, "churchslopes." It is thought there has been a church on the site since the 9th century CE, as a location where the body of Saint Cuthbert rested while carried monks before it was taken to Durham. The parish church is named Saint Cuthberts from that connection. The parish records begin in 1559.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday book "It had a recorded population of 9.1 households in 1086, putting it in the smallest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday, and is listed under 4 owners in Domesday Book." It had (apparently) been laid to waste during The Harrying of the north. The northern magnates the Percy family held the most of the land in Kirkleatham from 1086 to 1608.

In 1232 the advowson of Kirkleatham parish was at the centre of a dispute that saw local knight Sir Robert de Thweng style himself "Will Wither" and take arms against Italian eccelsiatics which saw him raid their properties and redistribute their wealth to the poor.

Kirkleatham was acquired by the Turner family around 1624 and is the birthplace of Sir William Turner who was Lord Mayor of London in 1669. He gave most of his fortune to found the Sir William Turner's Hospital in June 1676. In present day, it is an independent almshouse. Turner bequeathed a substantial amount of money to his great nephew, Cholmley Turner, a member of parliament for Yorkshire, 1727–1741, to establish a Free School, built in 1709, that now serves as the local museum. His estate established for the care of 40 people: ten old men, ten old women, ten boys, and ten girls. The office of governor or governess falls upon the owner of the estate. Management of the estate was the responsibility of a chaplain, a master, and a mistress.

Cholmley Turner added other Grade I listed buildings, the most notable being the Turner Mausoleum, in memory of his son, and adjoining the Church of St Cuthbert. It is a Grade I listed building on Kirkleatham Lane. The mausoleum was built in 1739–40 by James Gibbs, and restored with added internal cladding in 1839. Entered from the church, it is of Baroque style and of an octagonal plan with south and south-west sides that adjoin the church. It is a single storey with a basement burial chamber. The exterior is heavily rusticated, with an unusually large area vermiculated. It contains the inscription, "This mausoleum was erected 1740 to the memory of Marwood William Turner Esquire the best of sons." Cholmley Turner also retained the architect James Gibbs for building of the chapel at the almshouses.

Cholmley Turner's nephew Sir Charles Turner, 1st Baronet, of Kirkleatham, MP for York from 1768 to 1783, continued building upon the estate. His achievement included remodelling Kirkleatham Hall, as well as providing for the further development of the hospital, school, and a library. He also built the adjoining village of Yearby.

In 1894 Kirkleatham became an urban district, but was annexed by Redcar in 1899, after just five years as an independent authority. In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 403. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and merged with Guisborough.

In 1918, Kirkleatham was the location of a mooring-out station (a secondary base) for airships protecting the east coast based out of RNAS Howden. The site was only used during the latter half of 1918 and was closed permanently after the Armistice.